Michelle Nance, FAICP
FAICP Statement
Michelle is a transformative leader, skilled in building strong collaborative, cross-sector partnerships in the Charlotte region. Michelle’s work to develop and implement the Charlotte metro’s first growth framework, CONNECT Our Future, and regional mobility plan, CONNECT Beyond, led to coordinated investments and mobility projects, critical in a fast-growing region. She pioneered innovative planning tools to support practicing planners and influence change. She established APA-NC’s first diversity committee and has advanced women in planning. Her leadership in healthy communities planning and body of work connecting transportation and land use in practice have cemented her legacy in the profession.
Professional Biography
Michelle E. Nance, AICP is the Deputy Executive Director at Centralina Regional Council, leading regional planning, community economic development, government affairs and member services for nine counties in the Charlotte region. Her portfolio includes land use and transportation, economic and community resilience, healthy communities, grants management and public administration. Her work is focused on helping communities address local needs through planning, capacity building and peer networks while tackling shared, long-term opportunities through collaboration and partnerships. Michelle led the Centralina Regional Planning department for over a decade and is the former Director of Planning and Development Services for the city of Gastonia. She serves as an adjunct faculty member for the East Carolina University Community and Regional Planning program and teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Michelle received her Master of Public Administration and BS in Urban and Regional Planning from ECU and has a certificate in Design Thinking from UNC Charlotte.